25 Days of Merlin
by alexbroox
Summary: So I've decided to do one of those '25 days of Christmas' things for the show Merlin this year. Each day you'll get a drabble (100-1000 words) either set in modern time or in medieval time. None of them will have any character deaths or give you any other reason to be sad. I'll give my best to just write pure fluffy fluff : D Also, there will be many different pairings
1. Day 1

**Day One**

**Time: medieval**

**Character(s): Gwaine**

**Pairing: Gwaine x Merlin**

* * *

Gwaine was lying as close to the campfire as possible. He had wanted to be in the next village in a nice warm tavern by nightfall, but somehow he had ended up on the cold hard floor with no horse and barely anything left.

He prided himself in being one of the best, when it came to fighting (although not always fair and square…) But how was he supposed to take on a rather large group of bandits that teamed up with a sorceress? Not even the bloody princess of Camelot would've stood a chance against them!

He shivered. It had started snowing a while ago.

But then the realization hit him: Snow! If it was snowing, it meant that it would be Christmas soon.

And if it would soon be Christmas then it meant that he hadn't been in Camelot for almost a year now… He had gone almost a year without seeing Merlin.

Merlin.

Gods, how he missed him sometimes. He just wanted to see him again; was that too much to ask for?

A plan was starting to form in his head. It would be dangerous. He was banned after all…

But for Merlin? For his Merlin? He would gladly do it!

Maybe, after all they've been through, there will be a little Christmas miracle for them.


	2. Day 2

**Day Two**

**Time: modern**

**Character(s): Gwen, Morgana**

**Pairing: /**

Gwen was sitting on one of her student's desks grinning. Next to her was her colleague Morgana, trying desperately to find a recipe for cookies on Google. She looked as if she'd never used a computer before.

Gwen couldn't contain her chuckles anymore.

"How about you try finding something, hm? Because it seems you are ohh so much better at handling this … thing … than me!"

So maybe Morgana was a little bit frustrated. Gwen did her best to just ignore it and sat down in front of the laptop, next to her, still smiling.

Sometimes she just couldn't understand her colleague's problem with technology. Googling something wasn't that difficult after all.

It took Gwen all of three minutes to find a recipe they could use to bake with a bunch of seven-year-olds and print it out. Morgana seemed to be mildly impressed.

Gwen looked at her, challenging her to say something, anything. But she just rolled her eyes, turned around and strode out of the classroom. She would not give Guinevere such satisfaction.

And she wouldn't let her know just how much she was actually looking forward to baking cookies together with the children and with her either.

Not yet.

But Gwen would find out about that soon enough anyways. She just knew her best friend.


	3. Day 3

**Day Three**

**Time: medieval**

**Character(s): Merlin, Morgana, Uther**

**Pairing: /**

* * *

Merlin couldn't exactly remember anymore how he had been dragged into this one. It had something to do with Arthur wanting to tease him and Morgana doing something resembling puppy-eyes, he was sure. So now the warlock was buried under tons of boxes and had Morgana giving him orders in a way too cheerful tone.

Merlin fought his way out of the pile of red and gold ribbons, candles, mistletoes and other leafs. "Um, Milady…"

"Stop complaining Merlin, we still have more than three fourths of the castle to decorate."

He sighed.

It's not that Merlin didn't like Christmas, don't get him wrong! And decorating Gaius chambers had been much fun… but having to 'help' Morgana with decorating the _whole castle _(which basically meant her giving orders from a safe distance and Merlin having to do all the hard work and carrying stuff around) was just a tiny bit too much for one servant.

If Morgana could just be gone for a minute or two, then he could help himself with magic, but like this… there was really no hope for him.

Couldn't someone just come and save him?

Cue the king, Uther Pendragon.

Okay, that was not exactly how Merlin had wanted this to go. Because Uther didn't really seem amused. Nope, not at all.

"What do you think you are doing?" His voice rang loud and clear through the hallways of the castle. Morgana didn't flinch or back down one bit.

"Merlin, get back to work", she ordered. He had stopped when he heard the king's angry voice, but now had to get back on the ladder to put the mistletoe up above the door.

He didn't understand much of their following conversation since they spoke rather quietly and he was up pretty high. But it was apparent that Morgana tried to charm the king. It didn't work though, much to the lady's dismay.

Okay, so Merlin really didn't want to support slavery, but he just couldn't let Uther destroy Morgana's Christmas spirit. She tried her best to mask it, but Merlin had seen through it and felt pleasant warmth spread through him when he noticed her excitement. That and he didn't want to take down all the Christmas decoration that he had already placed up till now.

So he might've used one little spell on Uther to change his mind. It's not as if it would really harm anyone…

Morgana seemed a bit surprised though, as Uther suddenly smiled at her and told her to go on with her work. She didn't dare ask about his change of mind.

Merlin almost fell off his ladder when he heard the king loudly singing 'Jingle Bells'.


	4. Day 4

**Day Four**

**Time: modern**

**Character(s): Arthur, Gwaine**

**Pairing: /**

* * *

When he got up and out of bed, he already had a feeling that this day was going to be bad. Very bad.

Normally his instinct was right; today didn't seem to be an exception.

He had to hold a very important presentation at university today. Almost sixty percent of his mark depended on the outcome of this presentation, therefore he was quite a bit nervous today… not that he'd ever admit that.

He got out of his flat 40 minutes early, not necessarily wanting to be late on this day. His plan was somehow destroyed by his car though. It just wouldn't start!

After 15 minutes he decided to take the train. Maybe he could still make it.

It was freezing cold and Arthur couldn't feel his legs anymore after good ten more minutes. He finally arrived at the station, just to find out that his train had left three minutes ago and there wouldn't be another one for the next one and a half hours.

He had to think fast; missing today was inacceptable!

He spotted a bus station not very far off and sprinted down there as fast as his legs would still carry him. He got into the overfilled bus and waited. If the driver could go just a tiny bit faster, he might just make it in time.

But it seemed the whole world was out to get him today.

He arrived on campus 10 minutes late. But maybe, his professor would make an exception. If he explained the circumstances… He made a run for it. Better to be late than to never be there, right?

On his way, he almost knocked over Gwaine, who had a very self-satisfactory grin on his face. Weird…

"Where do you have to be this urgently, Princess?" Damn Gwaine and that stupid nickname he gave Arthur when he first arrived here.

"Have to give a presentation-" Arthur barely caught his breath to give a full answer, when Gwaine interrupted him, laughing.

"Professor isn't here today. Called in sick. And looking at you, I suggest you stay home too." Gwaine went off, laughing about the priceless expression on his face.

Arthur's screams could still be heard throughout the whole building when Gwaine made his way outside, through the main entrance.


	5. Day 5

**Day Five**

**Time: medieval**

**Character(s): Lancelot, Percival, Gwaine**

**Pairing: Gwen x Lancelot (indirect; Lancelot swooning over Gwen a little)**

* * *

He had been outside together with Percival and Gwaine for several hours now. King Arthur had sent them out to patrol in the smaller villages not far from the castle.

Some villagers had come to the castle the night before, telling the king something about a spirit dressed in red and white that broke into their houses and left suspicious gift for their children. Now Lancelot didn't really see any problems with making little children happy and leaving gifts for them; it was more the `spirit` and the `breaking into houses` parts which disturbed him.

They had searched for that figure for hours but found nothing, so they made their way back to the castle. The king surely wouldn't be pleased…

He was ripped out of his thoughts by a scream coming from Gwaine.

Lancelot looked around frantically, unable to see what kind of trouble the other knight had gotten himself into this time. However, he found Percival after some minutes of worriedly searching for them. They had wandered off quite far, Lancelot noticed first.

The second thing he noticed was that Gwaine was nowhere to be seen, although he could hear him cursing clearly.

The third thing he noticed was Percival staring up at something, good two meters above his head. That something turned out to be a net. A net, which caught a certain knight…

Lancelot could not suppress a chuckle upon seeing the distressed look on Gwaine's face.

"Oh, don't mind me. I am just hanging out here. Go and leave. Or better yet, paint a picture of me in here, since you believe it to be so amusing." Gwaine himself couldn't take his little rant serious and burst out laughing halfway through it.

They left him hanging there, talking casually about this and that until Percival decided to show mercy and free their fellow knight from his prison of ropes. But of course he wasn't kind enough to get him something soft to land on. Lancelot couldn't help but wince at the sound of Gwaine's body hitting the cold, hard floor, covered by a thin layer of ice. Percival just shrugged though as Gwaine got up, grumbling something about revenge.

They made another two miles towards the castle in silence, until Gwaine decided to start whistling songs quite out of tune to irritate Percival.

Percival usually was a rather calm man, but lately in Gwaine's presence… let's just say that said knight's plans to cause turmoil often ended in Percival playing cat and mouse with him. And Percival normally won.

Lancelot went on without them. Surely these two would catch up in time to support him with reporting to the king.

The castle was in view now and he couldn't help but smile at the sight. Camelot had always been a good home for Lancelot, it had always been beautiful. And Camelot's inhabitants…

He sighed. If King Arthur knew of his thoughts about the Queen, he would have him executed, Lancelot was sure. Or banned at least, but he considered that to be quite as bad if not maybe even worse.

But Guinevere… she was just so wonderful and kind and sweet and loving and stunning and caring and-

He hadn't paid much attention where he had been going. And he surely hadn't foreseen being buried under a heavy blanket of white. Nor had he anticipated the impact of a rather solid, wet, cold surface on his

face.

He could hear Gwaine and Percival laughing in the distance, though it was muffled by the heavy layer of snow Lancelot was buried under.

"Running into trees? That's even better than my fight to the death against the net!"

One day he would have to teach Gwaine a lesson about shutting up. But first he had to find a way out of this heap of snow…


	6. Day 6

**Day Six**

**Time: modern**

**Character(s): Morgana**

**Pairing: /**

* * *

She had set her mind on doing it and once that happened, there was just no stopping the stubborn little girl. She was sure that if her father could see her right now, he would be worried out of his mind that something might happen to his precious little girl.

Okay, so maybe Morgana shouldn't be standing on one of the kitchen-chairs, balancing all of her weight on the right armrest. Who cared? It was her uncle Uther's fault anyways! He had set the cookie dough out of her reach, onto the kitchen counter this morning before leaving for work, so it was his fault if she fell down and hurt herself! He would have to deal with the consequences not her… or that's at least what the five-year-old was telling herself, just before the chair tipped over and she landed on her butt.

But – of course – just before falling she had gotten hold of the bowl with prepared cookie dough, which she was currently clutching to her chest as if her life depended on it.

"…Ooooowww…"

'No Morgana, you mustn't cry now' the sniffling girl tried telling herself. It hurt though… very much…

She wiped away the tears starting to form in her eyes with the back of her left hand and got back up on her feet. She would not be defeated that easily!

Morgana set down the dough on the kitchen table and pulled the chair, she had been standing on before, towards it. She sat herself down on the chair, and looked at the different cookie cutters, scattered all over the table. She was searching for a very special one with her eyes, as she started kneading the dough again, to get it soft. One of her friends had said that she should do that before working with dough because the cookies turned out better then.

As she was rolling out the dough (she was standing on the chair again – that just made things easier for the little girl) she found the cutter she had been searching for.

She was sure that he would love the cookies she could make with it. 'He' being her big brother Arthur.

They had wanted to make cookies yesterday and prepared everything, but when Uther came home, he said that Arthur had to go and study and shouldn't be making cookies with her. So Morgana decided to surprise her brother today, when he came home from school, with a huge pile of cookies!

She started cutting out several cookies; some of them turned out better and some of them were so bad that it was impossible to tell what they were supposed to be. But after a good hour of work and an aching tummy - since cookie dough seemed to have some magic effect, that drew them to it and made them eat it, on little children – she had finished preparing three baking tins full of cookies.

She had even placed them in circles on the baking tins. Arthur would surely be delighted!

She sat herself down in front of the oven, in which she had put the baking tins and watched the cookies bake.

After half an hour she would have an army of knight-cookies.

Maybe she should make a small, round cake too?

Then she could sit the knights down on the Round Table…


	7. Day 7

**Day Seven**

**Time: medieval**

**Character(s): Gaius, Merlin**

**Pairing: Merlin x Gwaine**

* * *

Gaius was still trying to figure out what had led him to believe that anything Merlin and him might produce could turn out normal.

They were currently trying – _trying _being the key word here – to make dough for a cake. The problem was only that both of them didn't seem to be fully concentrated on the task at hand and both of them also seemed to have different definitions of a normal cake.

Merlin turned around to gaze out of the window absent-mindedly and sighed. Gaius knew that something was bothering the boy; he just didn't know how to approach the topic without making his apprentice shy away from him.

He didn't pay attention to the ingredients he was mixing into the dough. Although he had a feeling that the liquid he was supposed to pour over the dough and mix in slowly wasn't blue like the potion he had made for the Lady Morgana last night…

Oh well it's not as if it would kill them, right? What's done already couldn't be changed anymore…

He fixed his eyes back on Merlin, who hadn't seemed to notice that something had gone wrong with the dough. He was still staring out the window, as if he was waiting for something. Or rather someone. Although Merlin had tried his best to hide it, Gaius knew about him and Gwaine. How could he not have noticed, with the two of them sneaking around, and Merlin leaving in the middle of the night only to come back in the morning, grinning like an idiot? It was rather obvious really.

He still didn't know how to talk to him about it though. What the two of them were doing was dangerous after all! Gwaine was banned and Uther surely wouldn't be too pleased if he found him in Camelot, or if he found out that his son's manservant had … 'spent his free time' with Gwaine.

He walked across the room, searching for the eggs. He was sure he had put them somewhere here when he came back from the market.

"Merlin, could you go on with kneading the dough, while I'm searching for the next ingredients? It said in the recipe, that the dough should always be worked with once you started making it."

He only got a mumbled reply from the young warlock but he took that as a yes.

When he found the eggs, he tipped Merlin on the shoulder. "You can let me go on with the work now, boy."

"Umm, I don't really think I can Gaius…"

Merlin took a step away from the table.

…

Why had he left him alone with the dough again?

Well, as long as you could still call _that_ dough of course. It was pink. And it appeared to be very much alive.

"Merlin, what did you do this time…?"


	8. Day 8

**Day Eight**

**Time: modern**

**Character(s): Merlin, Arthur**

**Pairing: /**

* * *

He was sitting outside on the balcony, watching the snowflakes fall to the ground in silence. To say that today was a bad day for the young boy might be the understatement of the year. It was Christmas today. Now that might now be bad; not for normal children anyways. But for Merlin? Yeah, it just gave him a reminder how much he hated his life sometimes.

Yesterday in Kindergarten all of the other kids had talked about the cool things they would do with their parents on Christmas. They also wrote letters to Santa, talking about their wishes for Christmas and what kind of presents they wanted to have.

Merlin hadn't written a letter to Santa. He knew that there was no such thing. If there was one, he surely was a meanie, because he left Merlin out every year, no matter how good his behavior was!

He also hadn't told any of the other kids about his family's plans for Christmas. Because there simply were no plans. His mummy had to work a late night shift - even though it was Christmas! – so Merlin was alone for the night. Again.

He didn't blame his mum. No, he knew that she loved him very much and Merlin of course loved his mummy too! It just would've been nice to celebrate with her…

The little boy shivered. It was getting very cold outside, and he hadn't bothered to put on his shoes. There was more snow falling now than before.

Merlin looked up into the sky. Even though there was snowfall, he couldn't see any clouds. Weird. But he could see the stars! Maybe… Yes! Now he just had to wish for something.

Because although the little boy didn't believe in Santa, he was sure that a shooting star would grant him his wishes.

When he made his wish, he was grinning like an idiot. Hopefully it would work out for the little boy…

And surely it did!

Two days later, someone was ringing the doorbell. His mum was out to go shopping for food, so Merlin had to answer it. He normally didn't like talking to strangers…

He opened the door and stood face to face with a blonde boy who seemed to be about the same age as him.

"Umm, hi?"

Merlin didn't really know what to make of that, so he decided to be polite and return the greeting.

"…Hi…?"

Okay, that was awkward.

"So, my family just moved here yesterday… and my dad said, I should get an overview of this place… and I saw that you were around and I thought… I dunno… maybe you wanna come out with me and play? We could have a snow fight or something… And mum could make us hot chocolate! You like chocolate, right?"

Merlin was baffled and only managed to nod in agreement to the other boy's words.

Merlin put on his Jacket and his boots, when he realized that he didn't even know the blonde's name!

"I'm Merlin by the way", he said trying to smile and probably failing miserably. It's been too long since he had tried…

"I'm Arthur", the other boy said answering Merlin's smile with a grin.

In that exact moment Merlin was entirely sure of two things.

One: Arthur and him would become great friends!

And two: Forget Santa; a shooting star fulfilled his wish! That was much cooler than some adult dressed in a red and white costume anyways ; )


	9. Day 9

**Day Nine**

**Time: medieval**

**Character(s): Merlin, Gwaine**

**Pairing: /**

* * *

It was getting kind of cold down here and his friend's laughter wasn't really helping his situation. He just couldn't see what was supposed to be funny right now.

Gwaine could see it however. Okay, he couldn't _literally_ _see _anything anymore because of the tears in his eyes blurring his vision, but you know what I mean…

And it didn't happen every day that Merlin was just half as tall as Gwaine.

Some of you might think now, that surely sorcery has to be involved, if somehow our dear warlock shrank to only half his size! … wrong…

Unless of course you count almost 90 centimeters of snow into which Merlin sunk down as witchcraft, that is.

Well, sorcery or not, Merlin was not amused. Gwaine was almost rolling on the snow laughing now. Yep, definitely not amused.

It took Merlin several minutes of pouting, some whining and the all-defeating puppy eyes to get his friend to take pity on him.

He was reaching both of his hands out to Merlin who gladly took them. Gwaine tried his best to get his friend out of the snow and pulled as hard as he could, but to no avail. He took a step back.

"Sorry mate, but getting you outta there is harder than it looked… maybe I should go and get the princess or some of her knights to help us out here?"

The words hadn't fully left his mouth yet, when he could already see a look of sheer terror forming on Merlin's face. Okay, so no getting Arthur and his knights then…

Sighing he reached his hands out to Merlin again, who grabbed them for a second time.

He pulled really hard and even had the feeling that something was moving around them. Maybe he wouldn't have to get help and embarrass his friend after all. But then he noticed that it was not Merlin they were getting out of the snow, but it was him they were slowly pulling into the snow!

"Hey!" But it was already too late. He was covered in snow up to his waist and couldn't move his legs an inch anymore.

His partner in crime was grinning at him sheepishly.

"… Thanks Merlin…"


	10. Day 10

**Day Ten**

**Time: modern**

**Character(s): Guinevere**

**Pairing: Guinevere x Morgana **

* * *

It was getting more and more crowded on the streets with every passing hour. Even though it was getting uncomfortable, she had to stay and find something. Giving up just wasn't an option for the young woman!

But not giving up was easier said than done. She had gone through almost all the shops by now and she didn't have much time left before they closed but she just couldn't find anything! She had already gotten the presents for each and every one of her friends. That wasn't a problem anymore.

No the real problem turned out to be getting something for her girlfriend, Morgana. Because seriously, what do you get a person who already has everything?

At first she had thought about clothes or shoes or jewelry, but it was not as if she could afford anything good in those categories for Morgana. And her girlfriend only deserved the best of the best!

Then she had asked Merlin for help, but he hadn't been much help, because

One: he doesn't seem to know anything about women at all

And Two: his flat mate Arthur had him working like a slave for the last two weeks (Gwen still doesn't know, why Merlin always lets Arthur treat him like that!) so he didn't have much time to help Gwen out.

She went on with searching for another 20 minutes until she finally gave up. It just didn't make any sense anymore. She just … had to think of something… but surely she wouldn't find anything anymore today. Or that's what she thought!

When she made her way back towards her car parked at the other end of the street, she noticed a little shop at the side of the street which she had overlooked earlier. She fought her way through the masses of people, looking into the shop's window. Her eyes lit up.

Maybe she could get Morgana something for Christmas after all.


	11. Day 11

**Day Eleven**

**Time: medieval**

**Character(s): Merlin, Sir Leon, Gwaine, Arthur**

**Pairing: Merlin x Gwaine**

* * *

It was really no surprise that this morning, when the knights were meeting outside to start with their training early in the morning, Sir Gwaine was absent. Some of the other knights had thought about skipping training as well, but none of them had in the end dared to defy their king's orders.

Although they would've had good reason to do so. Lately their king's training methods had become inhuman. His obsession to have the best knights in the whole bloody world might have reached some state of madness, but no one dared to speak up to the king and sadly they hadn't gotten a hold of Merlin lately. He might've been able to change Arthur's mind…

But until that or some other miracle happened, they had to stay outside in the cold and try to make it out of the training alive.

At some point though, Arthur became fed up with his knights lack of moral and decided to give them a small break; maybe they'd be better after that, otherwise he'd have to train even harder with them. The knights of Camelot could not be seen slacking!

Sir Gwaine hadn't bothered to show his face up till then, so the king decided to send Sir Leon to search for him.

Gwaine was making his way towards the kitchen to get himself some breakfast – yes he had slept in and he had deserved that, thank you very much – when he heard the other knight calling his name. He quickly made his way around some corners and went through a door on the left. It turned out to just be a small closet.

He waited for one, two, three, four seconds but heard nothing.

That is until he felt the door opening behind himself and came face to face with Merlin who stumbled into the closet.

"Gwaine? I think Sir Leon is-"

He was cut off by Gwaine putting his hand over his mouth and pulling Merlin down on top of him to get him to quiet down – successfully.

"Gwaine?"

Sir Leon's voice could still be heard outside, not far away from their hideout.

Merlin was starting to struggle against Gwaine's grip, but he only held the servant closer, leaving him less room for movement.

They stayed like that for what felt like an eternity and a half, when finally footsteps signaled that Sir Leon was leaving, trying another way to find his fellow knight and drag him out onto the training ground.

Only after Leon left did Gwaine loosen his hold on Merlin.

And only then, when they made real eye contact for the first time in minutes, did they realize the quite compromising position they were currently in…


	12. Day 12

**Day Twelve**

**Time: modern**

**Character(s): Arthur**

**Pairing: Arthur x Merlin**

* * *

This was getting more and more ridiculous the longer he tried doing it correctly, messing up and then fixing it as well as he could until he decided that it wasn't good enough and he started anew. There were red and blue and white ribbons flying everywhere, but he couldn't care about the mess he was currently making of his – no, _their_ – living room.

This was war and he would not go down without a decent fight! Maybe he should've gotten his friends as support after all. But no, they'd probably just be laughing about his inability to wrap a bloody Christmas-present for his boyfriend.

His sister might've helped him without making too much of a fool out of Arthur, but it was too late for that now. Much too late. He would not give up that easily! He would not be defeated by some stupid wrapping paper! But he had to do this quest on his own… although it was more difficult than it first appeared to be. Maybe, if Merlin was here… but then again it wouldn't be a surprise anymore, so no relying on his boyfriend this time.

He did his best, trying to wrap the present. He really did.

And somehow, after a battle that seemed to go on for hours with no end in sight, he managed to wrap it up and even make it look half decent… without breaking it!

He put the present down on the coffee table in front of him and eyed it suspiciously, as if it might start unwrapping itself the second he dared to let out the breath he'd been holding for quite some time now and turned away from it.

He didn't really want to touch it again until it was safe in Merlin's hands, scared that something might happen to it, now that things seemed to look up again for him in this battle.

But he had to. After all he still needed to fix a small tag with his love's name on it to the present.

He was careful; very careful. And concentrated. He just couldn't lose this fight. Because then, he'd have to start again; then the present would be messed up. And he wanted everything to be perfect for his Merlin! So messing this up was out of the question.

He took a pen and slowly wrote down Merlin's name on the tag.

Huh, nothing went wrong…

After hiding the present for his boyfriend he took a look around the room the fight had taken place in.

There were ribbons lying everywhere, shreds of wrapping paper were all over the floor and for some reason a pair of scissors stuck in the wall opposite the door that lead to the kitchen.

He sighed and started cleaning up the mess he made.

Arthur might've won this one battle, but other fights lay ahead of him; the Christmas-war was far from over…


	13. Day 13

**Day Thirteen**

**Time: medieval**

**Character(s): Leon, Percival, Gwaine, Arthur**

**Pairing: /**

* * *

Leon was running through the hallways as fast as his feet would carry him. Arthur was surely going to be angry. They were supposed to meet on the training field almost half an hour ago, but Leon was held up by the queen so he didn't really have a chance to get away without seeming incredibly rude towards Guinevere.

As he got out of the castle and onto the field he got hit right in the face with something. It was cold. And wet.

Had he anticipated it, he might've had time to react before he got hit by the snowball.

The knight wiped away the remains of snow on his face and tried to take a look around, assess the situation and all. But the only thing greeting him was Gwaine who was laughing out loudly and pointing a finger at him, before being hit by a snowball thrown by the King himself stopping his laughter almost instantly.

Leon barely dodged the next snowball aimed at him by Percival who had taken cover behind some kind of snow-fort.

So it seemed that the knights were having a quite different kind of training today, hm…

And really, who would Sir Leon be to let a chance to hit Sir Gwaine or even King Arthur with a snowball pass?


	14. Day 14

**Day Fourteen**

**Time: modern**

**Character(s): Uther Pendragon**

**Pairing: /**

* * *

Uther Pendragon, boss of Camelot Industries, was sitting in his office, angrily staring out the window at the constant snowfall outside.

Not only was it snowing almost every day now so that his employees came late to work more often than usual, but no, they also all seemed to be in some kind of sickeningly sweet Christmas mood. And them being in a true Christmas spirit meant that they're not working as efficiently as normal.

He would have to do something before these Christmas-lovers or whatever cost him ten thousands of dollars or maybe even managed to ruin his company in this one month! No, that was just inacceptable. He had to find a solution before it came to that.

Maybe he should just ban Christmas from his company from now on? Then his employees would surely be down and all but they'd at least stop humming irritating Christmas tunes and get back to work.

As he played with the thought someone came into his office and dropped an envelope on his desk.

Really, how could anyone dare to interrupt him when he was finally finding a solution for the whole Christmas-problem! He sighed and took the envelope into his hands. It was rather light.

He turned it around and saw his name scribbled down on it in a messy handwriting. It looked as if a preschooler had written that…

He opened it and out of the envelope fell, instead of a letter, a picture.

A drawing.

He looked at it for a minute and couldn't suppress a chuckle.

The drawing showed a little blonde boy and a man in a suit. They were sitting on something he couldn't quite identify, next to what seemed to be a Christmas tree.

On the top of the drawing it said 'Merry Christmas dad' in his son's messy handwriting.

He couldn't stop smiling at the sweet little drawing from Arthur.

Maybe he should overthink those Christmas plans he had for the company again. Maybe he could deal with his employees being unconcentrated for the next ten days.

Maybe Christmas wasn't such a bad thing after all.


	15. Day 15

**Day Fifteen**

**Time: medieval**

**Character(s): Gwen, Arthur**

**Pairing: Gwen x Arthur**

* * *

She was slowly waking up, frowning. Why was it this cold in her room?

She yawned and at the same time started shivering. Honestly a weird sensation.

Her Attention flew to the window at the other end of her room. Gwen was sure that she had closed it before she went to sleep last night.

Well, before she'd freeze now, she got up and closed it.

Still standing by the window, the young woman took a look around. All of this was rather suspicious after all.

Spotting an unfamiliar package at the foot of her bed, she went over to take a closer look at it. Her name was written on it.

But who would break into her room in the middle of the night to leave a package behind for her? Surely something was foul here…

After quite some consideration however, her curiosity weighed out the uncertainty. She carefully cut open the paper and-

Wow.

That… that must've cost a fortune!

And it was so, so beautiful. She couldn't accept something like that! But she didn't know who left it here, and it had her name written on it after all…

She put the item into a little box which she stored in the back of her dresser and got ready for the day. Today she would have to be in the castle earlier than usual since the Lady Morgana required her services getting ready for a feast this evening.

Upon her arrival in Morgana's chambers, the Lady made sure to keep her maidservant occupied for almost the whole day, without much time to think about who could've left that gift for her.

In the evening at the feast however, Guinevere didn't have much to do, since the knights seemed to find much more joy in making poor Merlin run around, having to serve them. Sometimes she really pitied the boy. Not only was Arthur harassing him quite often so it seemed, but the knights and other nobles around were not much nicer to him, if not even worse!

Thinking about Arthur, she did think that something was quite off about the prince this evening. Sadly, she hadn't gotten a hold of Merlin yet. Maybe something was bothering the prince? It was a shame really, that frown on such a handsome face…

But then for some reason he looked up and their eyes met.

The moment was gone as fast as it had come, but it was enough for Guinevere. Enough for her to know exactly what was up.

She couldn't stop the grin from spreading over her face as she saw that the prince was now smiling.

She knew now, who it was that left that beautiful necklace at the foot of her bed last night.

And she also knew what accessories she would be wearing tomorrow evening, when the festivities went on…


	16. Day 16

**Day Sixteen**

**Time: modern**

**Character(s): Lancelot, Merlin, Arthur, Morgana, Gwaine, Guinevere**

**Pairing: /**

* * *

It was loud inside the relatively small room, but Lancelot and his best friend Merlin weren't bothered much by that. They were currently sitting at one of the small tables, drawing.

He caught a glimpse of Merlin's picture and looked at him questioningly.

"It's a Christmas present for mummy. If I give presents to my mummy that means that I'm a good boy. And if I'm good I get lots of huge presents from Santa!" He could see the sparkle in the other boy's eyes and couldn't help but give him a warm smile. He was always so enthusiastic about everything.

"Who is your picture for?"

Lancelot considered telling Merlin the truth. But that might turn out to be a bit embarrassing. Because Lancelot wanted to give the drawing to Guinevere! But Merlin thought that girls were… what did he say again? Something along the lines of 'eeeewwwwww'.

Okay no, that wasn't exactly true. Because apparently for Merlin all girls were 'eeeewwwwww' except for Morgana of course. Lancelot didn't understand how his best friend got along with her, but he tried not to be mean to the girl. 'For Merlin' he thought as she came over and looked over Merlin's shoulder at his drawing and smiled.

The smile however slipped from her face rather suddenly as her big brother Arthur decided to pop up out of nowhere and startle her. He startled her. A little girl who had a glass of orange juice in her hand and was standing dangerously close to his best friend's drawing.

Lancelot tried slipping the paper out of the way, but he wasn't fast enough. The juice spilled all over Merlin's drawing.

There was a moment of complete silence in the room.

Then tears started to form in his best friend's eyes.

Then he started sniffling.

And then all hell broke loose.

Poor Arthur looked a little panicked when Gwaine positioned himself in front of Merlin as if he was trying to protect the younger boy from the blonde. Lancelot briefly considered joining Gwaine but decided against it, since Merlin seemed to need him much more right now.

He went over and hugged the other boy, trying to calm him down.

The commotion Gwaine was causing however didn't really help Lancelot in his mission to stop Merlin from being sad.

Just as the little hotspur threatened to hit Arthur, thankfully Guinevere came inside and took care of the situation. After she made sure that Merlin was fine and that Lancelot was taking good care of him, she went over to Arthur and Gwaine to break up their fight.

Morgana came over to Merlin and lightly patted him on the shoulder, looking very guilty and apologizing over and over until Merlin's muffled reply that it was okay and not her fault came from Lancelot's chest.

When the girl left, Merlin dared to look up for the first time since the accident.

Still hugging Lancelot, he looked his best friend straight in the eyes and managed a smile for him.

"Thank you for being here for me…"


	17. Day 17

**Day Seventeen**

**Time: medieval**

**Character(s): Morgana, Gwen**

**Pairing: Gwen x Morgana**

* * *

It was quite deep in the night but the woman just couldn't find a way to sleep at the moment. She sat up on the rather small bed in her tent and took a look around. There was nothing out of the ordinary.

She shivered though, which is why she sent for her maidservant to get her another blanket. When oh when had it gotten this cold? She hadn't bothered to take any of her winter clothing with her… Seems that this would be a rather uncomfortable journey after all. So nothing out of the ordinary again.

Gwen came inside, smiling warmly at her and placed a thicker blanket around her shoulders. Morgana's shivering stopped, but not necessarily because of the blanket. It might have more to do with her maidservant's smile.

"Is everything all right, Milady?" Morgana could hear the clear worry in the other woman's voice and felt somehow even warmer than before. Having someone care for her was a rather … nice experience, really.

"It's fine, I just have some trouble sleeping…"

"Nightmares?" She seemed to be even more worried and suddenly Morgana didn't feel quite so at ease with the situation anymore.

"No, I am just not sleepy that's all."

Gwen just hummed in response to that and made her way over to one of Morgana's many bags. They had established some sort of routine over the last few months. Whenever Morgana couldn't sleep or just didn't feel well and Guinevere was around, the maidservant would start brushing the lady's hair, to calm her down. And surprisingly that worked every single time!

After some minutes of silence between the two of them however, Morgana noticed that something was quite wrong with the woman brushing her hair. She was shivering. And her hands were cold as ice!

Morgana didn't say anything though. Well, not until Guinevere decided to make her exit. And it was somehow still true, that she didn't say anything at all to her maidservant. She didn't need to, as she wrapped her hand around Gwen's wrist and slowly pulled her closer every part of her body practically screaming 'stay'. Except for the lady's voice that is.

Gwen seemed to be a little confused at first, but was quickly reassured by the smile on Morgana's face. It was one of those rare smiles. One of those smiles only reserved for Gwen.

One of those smiles that said 'stay'.

…

…

…

Does it still need to be mentioned that neither the lady nor her maidservant were seen until late in the morning the next day?


	18. Day 18

**Day Eighteen**

**Time: modern**

**Character(s): Merlin, Arthur**

**Pairing: Merlin x Arthur**

* * *

He was sleepy. Very sleepy. But if he shut his eyes for just a second now, he'd probably fall asleep, and we couldn't have that, could we? Not when they'd just been reunited after what felt like years but was actually just four weeks.

They were lying on the couch in their – yes _their_; Merlin had moved in not long ago – flat. Somewhere in the background there was a radio playing cheesy Christmas songs, but neither of them focused on that too hard at that moment. No, they were much too busy with snuggling and getting lost in each other's eyes while trying to work up the courage to just lean over that small distance and finally kiss the other.

Neither Merlin nor Arthur had the guts to do just that; but in the end the evening had been nice enough for them even without something like… well… Arthur didn't really know how to name it. Or more like: he didn't want to.

Was there a blush spreading over his cheeks as his flat mate's eyes locked on his again?

Aww, he was embarrassed…

But what exactly was there to be embarrassed about? Merlin and Arthur both knew after all. Somewhere. Deep down they knew. They were just in denial. Everybody knew that. Even them. Still doesn't change the facts though. Both of them were way too stubborn sometimes. And that's something they both knew too. But still no change there.

Arthur gave up after approximately ten more minutes of holding Merlin in his arms. He fell asleep. But he did not snore (no matter what Merlin might've told you)!

Shortly after, Merlin followed him into the land of dreams.

Seeing the two of them cuddled together like that on the couch, fast asleep, makes it quite hard to believe that they are 'just friends' as they usually claim to be.

And at some point, even the two of them would have to realize that.


	19. Day 19

**Day Nineteen**

**Time: medieval**

**Character(s): Hunith, Merlin, Will**

**Pairing: /**

* * *

Hunith was walking through her house, over to the small fireplace. It was getting quite dark outside and there was still no sign from either Merlin or Will. And if these two boys were outside together for more than two hours then usually Hunith had every reason to be worried.

She was preparing soup for dinner when she heard the two loud, young boys outside laughing over some sort of inside joke that surely no one else would get, except for them.

They came inside, still laughing, so there was really nothing that could've prepared poor Hunith for that sight.

Will and Merlin were both wet to the bone, the water from their clothes slowly dripping onto the floor.

She didn't even need to ask the two boys anymore; those grins said more than a thousand words ever could.

Will and Merlin had originally planned on going out to the lake to go ice-skating; and certainly they had done just that… until of course Will broke into the ice and almost drowned, weren't it for Merlin's magic. In the end however, Hunith's son hadn't gotten around to take a swim himself, so that's why they were both drenched and now shivering as well.

Hunith had gotten the pair some towels to dry them off with and prepared two bowls of soup for them.

They sat down at the table, having changed clothes and laughing again, as Hunith wiped away the puddle they left on the floor.

As they sat at the table already planning their next adventure Hunith was sure that even though they somehow always got into trouble, Will was the best friend her son could ever wish for.

Merlin was happy and that, that was more than enough for his mother.


	20. Day 20

**Day Twenty**

**Time: modern**

**Character(s): Guinevere, Lancelot, Merlin **(here: Gwen's and Lance's son)

**Pairing: Lancelot x Guinevere**

* * *

Stressed? Overworked? Tired?

Yes. All of those words described Lancelot perfectly at the moment.

His boss had made him come to work today, even though he officially had the day off, because there was some sort of emergency and they couldn't have dealt with it without him and his professional opinion. Today of all days.

He sighed.

He had wanted to be home early, so that he could witness his boy opening his presents and see the sparkle in his eyes.

Merlin had been very sad and almost started crying, when his daddy told him that he had to go to work. But Lance had promised the little one that he'd be home early. And now he had broken that promise. Merlin must surely be upset. Hopefully Gwen didn't have to suffer too much from his tantrums and managed to distract him.

He opened the door to the small house and took a step inside. It was quiet inside, so surely his wife and his son had to be asleep already.

He was extra careful to be quiet when he took off his coat and his shoes, but managed to fall over Merlin's bag and barely caught himself before falling down the stairs. Oh, what a wonderful Christmas that would've been…

He was ripped out of his thoughts by a quiet giggle coming from the living room and another female voice shushing the giggling. What on earth…?

He made his way into the living room and sitting there, surrounded by what seemed to be hundreds of presents, sat Gwen and little Merlin. The little one ran up to his dad and hugged his legs.

"Mewwy Christmas!"

The smile on his face was blinding.

Lance picked his son up, laughing, when his wife came over to the two of them. He embraced Gwen with his free arm, kind of squishing Merlin between them. But the boy was not complaining…

"Merry Christmas", she whispered and leaned in to kiss him.

It was a sweet, soft kiss and everything Lance needed after that day at work.

It ended abruptly however, as little Merlin started making gagging noises at his parents and tried to get out of his prison of an embrace. Gwen sat him down between the presents and told him to start opening them.

Apparently the young boy had refused to even touch any of them until his daddy was home to open them with him.

Lance kissed his wife again, believing that one little kiss wasn't quite enough yet. He couldn't help but smile into it as he heard Merlin squealing over his presents.

Maybe this Christmas wasn't so bad after all.


	21. Day 21

**Day Twenty-one**

**Time: medieval**

**Character(s): Gwaine, Merlin**

**Pairing: Merlin x Gwaine**

* * *

He was sneaking out of the castle as fast as he could, as silent as he could. Still there was some kind of feast going on that Arthur had to throw to celebrate the years of peace with the neighboring kingdoms, but Merlin really wasn't in the mood to stick around and serve these so called noble men anymore.

When he made his way around the guards standing at the gate he let out a breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding for the past five minutes.

There were only quite a few people still outside in the lower town, so there wasn't really anything Merlin had to worry about here. But still as a patrol came around the corner, Merlin pulled a hood over his head and tried to seem inconspicuous. It was not that he was planning to do something too illegal this evening and the guards couldn't really know about his plans if he thought about it. But they'd probably drag him back to Arthur and the warlock didn't want to have that kind of conversation with his prince tonight.

When he couldn't hear the guards anymore he broke out into a dash, almost running over a beggar and barely managing to keep himself from tripping. He just wanted to get out of Camelot and the lower town, just wanted to get away from the people here. He didn't want to be seen, not by anyone.

Well, except of course by _him_.

Merlin made his way into the forest and almost stumbled and fell down if it weren't for a pair of strong arms suddenly encompassing him, keeping him from falling.

His instant reaction was to panic.

However, he had no choice but to relax when he felt hands running through his hair and a voice softly murmuring into his ear.

Gwaine.

He turned around in the other man's arms, couldn't believe that it was really him. They hadn't seen each other for a year! And one year was way too long of a time for the young warlock. It seemed however that it was way too long for Gwaine too, if the way he pulled him close, as if he never wanted to let Merlin go again, was any indication.

"Hey." It was this breathless greeting and the shy smile that accompanied it, which set Gwaine off.

He placed both of his hands at either sides of Merlin's head and closed the distance between their lips.

They kissed as if there was no tomorrow, which for the two of them might even be true. And still there was no better feeling Merlin could imagine than kissing Gwaine, being kissed like this.

It was way too short for the warlock's liking but they were unkindly interrupted by a patrol. Why were they even going through these woods late at night? Merlin cursed, but Gwaine just silenced him with another kiss, not quite wanting to let go of his Merlin yet.

As the guards got closer however, they had to part. As much as Merlin wanted to keep Gwaine here, he wouldn't just stand by and watch as the guards dragged his love into the dungeons.

Gwaine hugged Merlin close one last time and whispered into his ear.

"Merry Christmas"


	22. Day 22

**Day Twenty-Two**

**Time: modern**

**Character(s): Morgana, Gwen**

**Pairing: Morgana x Gwen**

* * *

Little Morgana was sitting next to the Christmas tree, staring intently at the clock on the wall, when Gwen came inside. She had been out with her dad all day since he had to work and Gwen liked helping her dad out, if that meant that she would get to spend more time with him.

But now, it was already 7 o' clock in the evening and the girls had promised to meet at Morgana's on Christmas Eve to open their presents together.

"Sorry for being late…" Gwen mumbled, unsure if the other girl would forgive her that easily. Christmas was a big deal for her after all since neither her brother nor her dad really bothered with the holidays so she usually was alone if it weren't for Gwen.

Morgana didn't answer at first, just nodded and began with unpacking her gifts. It was a tense silence and Guinevere didn't know what to do about it, just knew that she felt uncomfortable.

She picked up one of the presents that were addressed to her and carefully opened it.

It was a beautiful hair clip, one that Gwen had always wanted but her dad never bought it for her, saying that it's too expensive.

She looked over at Morgana, a smile lighting her face.

"You know, I got you something too!"

She pulled a gift out of the bag she had brought with her under the curious glances of Morgana, handed it over to her and waited impatiently.

Morgana took extra time unwrapping the gift, still pretending to be angry with Gwen, but when she finally saw what the other girl had made for her, she couldn't help but smile and laugh, all anger forgotten.

She had made a collage with various photos of the two of them. It was wonderful.

Gwen couldn't help herself anymore as she saw her beloved smile on Morgana's face. She hopped over and kissed the other girl right on the lips.

It was chaste and sweet and interrupted by giggles coming from both of the girls, but it was maybe even better than the things they had given each other.

They wouldn't ever forget this Christmas!


	23. Day 23

**Day Twenty-Three**

**Time: medieval**

**Character(s): Arthur, Gwen**

**Pairing: Arthur x Gwen**

* * *

"Arthur…?"

She reached a hand over to the other side of the bed. It was still warm but empty.

Where oh where could her husband have gone in the middle of the night? He surely would have told her beforehand, if there was anything important to deal with, wouldn't he?

She sighed, the worry about Arthur getting the better of her, and slowly got dressed. Maybe there was an emergency and Arthur had been woken by one of the guards? Thoughts like this plagued her on her way through the hallways.

She made her way through the halls, to the library, but no one was there. Neither was anyone sitting at the round table and it didn't seem that anyone was up except for some guards.

Some strange noises were coming from outside though, but none of the guards seemed to be bothered by it and when Guinevere asked one of them, he just asked her politely to go back to sleep and not to worry.

She shortly contemplated going outside to take a look at it, whatever it might be, but decided against it, when she saw that some of the windows were frozen on the outside. There was no way she would be going out in that cold when she was barely even dressed! Whatever was going on outside could surely wait until tomorrow.

…

…

…

Okay, maybe she should've stopped this last night, when she still had the chance to do so.

It was huge.

Very huge.

And surely way too expensive.

…

What had been going through her husband's mind when he decided to get her such a present?

She wanted to hit her head against a wall, but decided against it since it would seem to be improper behavior for a queen and it might even hurt Arthur's feelings.

Again, she sighed.

Said husband was standing in front of his present for his queen grinning triumphantly and then turning around to face her.

"And? What do you think about it?"

Should she tell the truth? Lying wasn't right after all…

But that hopeful look in his eyes…

"It is quite… extraordinary… Thank you"

And before he could question her choice of words or notice anything wrong. She leant over to kiss him, resulting in loud cheers from the knights and from Merlin.

It was a slow, but passionate kiss and Gwen tried her best to distract Arthur with it.

And it seemed to work.

Now that her husband was taken care of, she would just have to figure out what to do with that monstrosity of a present…


	24. Day 24

**Day Twenty-Four**

**Time: modern**

**Character(s): Arthur, Merlin, Gwen**

**Pairing: Merlin x Arthur**

* * *

It was rather cramped in the small space they were currently occupying but at least here they had some privacy. Sure, the janitor's closet might not be the best place to start a small snogging-session five minutes before the next lesson, but hey, at least it was something and it couldn't be much worse than the last two weeks they had spent apart from each other.

No, nothing could be worse than that; not seeing Merlin over the Holidays, not being able to celebrate the New Year with him…

They were trying to make up for all they had missed over the last two weeks in five minutes and although anyone would know, that something along those lines wouldn't work, they were doing a bloody good job at trying to prove them wrong.

Once Arthur had spotted his boyfriend in the hallways, it hadn't taken him more than half a minute to grab him from behind and carry him to the next door bridal-style, not being bothered by the cheers coming from their friends and also not caring that the door was only leading to a small closet.

Once they had arrived at Arthur's chosen destination, he however barely left Merlin any time to recover and catch his breath, nor were there any words exchanged between the two of them. There was just a look of pure longing in Arthur's eyes and a fond smile playing on Merlin's lips, before his brain decided to go on stand-by and let his heart take over for some moments.

They got closer and closer quite slowly – too slow for Arthur's liking – and started with small, sweet, chaste kisses that however quickly turned into passionate almost feverish clashes of lips and at some point even teeth as Arthur's impatience grew bigger and Merlin's resolve crumbled.

Not that Merlin would ever think about stopping this, oh no! He loved Arthur after all, and he loved kissing him, just … he'd like to go a bit slower sometimes, that's all.

But there was just no slowing in sight in Arthur's current mood.

Going two weeks without Merlin, his Merlin, almost counted as some form of torture, Arthur was sure and who was he to suppress his urges to see his boyfriend after such a long time?

Just as he was about to slide his hands into Merlin's hair however, destiny decided to continue its torture on poor Arthur.

"Hey Merlin, Gwaine told me you'd be in here, what are you even do-"

Gwen opened the door to the closet and stumbled inside, apparently unaware of the situation until she took in the disheveled looks of her two best friends.

"Oh you can't be serious…" She mumbled before fleeing the closet, shouting for Gwaine to never lead her into such a trap again.

Merlin and Arthur only had time to share a short look after that incident before bursting out laughing, all romance that might've been in the air before gone and replaced by comfortableness and merriness.

The ringing bell signaled the start of the next lesson, even before the two boys could get a break from their laughing fit.

They tried to straighten out their clothes as they took the steps out into the hallway but to no avail.

They had different classes, so sadly that meant saying goodbye again for the next two hours. But two hours were nothing compared to two weeks.

And also now, Arthur had something he could look forward to after school.


	25. Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas everyone!

I hope you had as much fun reading my drabbles as I had coming up with ideas for them and writing them.

I know that for our fandom Christmas might be a rather sad Holiday now (thanks to BBC -_-) but it warms me to see that we are supporting each other and trying to cheer each other up.

I've seen really beautiful Merlin fanart on tumblr the past 25 days and it helped me with coming to terms with the Merlin finale from last year.

My Christmas wish for our fandom is, that we'll still fangirl together and support each other in the years to come. Because even though Merlin isn't on TV anymore, the show must go on, right?

So, for the love of Camelot,

Merry Christmas!


End file.
